Billy Hunter responds to criticism by DeShawn Stevenson – NBA Update
Executive Director of the now disbanded National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), Billy Hunter, has responded to criticism levelled at him by Dallas Mavericks star DeShawn Stevenson.
The Mavericks shooting guard recently asserted that Hunter was doing a “horrible job” as head of the players union. Stevenson said that Hunter should have disbanded the players union long ago and taken the NBA owners to courts
earlier. The players have done so now, but that appears to be too little and too late for a group of players that include Stevenson. There contention is that with cases coming so late, it would probably take the whole season for courts to pass down a verdict.
NBA player agents had been pushing for a decertification even before the NBA lockout began as they were convinced the owners would never negotiate in good faith.
Hunter didn’t think the criticism was justified.
He believes that as a director, he was privy to information that many, such as Stevenson, did not know. He implied that if Stevenson had been actively involved with the negotiations, he might have had a different view.
“DeShawn is entitled to his opinion,” Hunter said. “It would be much more meaningful if he were more directly involved and would have understood what fully transpired and understood the issues. I think he’d be better informed.”
“I respect DeShawn’s right to say and feel what he is saying. I can’t fault that. I don’t have nothing negative about DeShawn. He said it. It’s not justified, but he has every right in the world to say what he thinks.”
Hunter’s position was always to resolve the matter on the negotiation table. Billy believed that NBA owners and Commissioner David Stern could be reasoned with to formulate a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was fair for
both sides. In the end, his assumption proved wrong as David Stern issued an ultimatum to players and refused to negotiate, but Hunter needed to exhaust the negotiating process.
That might give Hunter and the players high moral ground, and perhaps some legal leeway because it wasn’t them who went away from the negotiating table, but it has also come at a price. Many like Stevenson, who supported a hard-line
approach from the start, are upset at the union for making so many concessions to the NBA owners who in return have made close to zero.
There is also fear that with the legal process starting so late, it would be very hard to get a verdict in time to salvage the 2011-2012 NBA season. In fact, such legal battles last for months on end, which could even spell doom
for the start of a 2012-2013 NBA season.
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